Product Description

'What I want you to have, Imogen, above all, is a sense of your own history; a sense of where you come from, and of the forces that made you.' Rosamund lies dying in her remote Shropshire home. But before she does so, she has one last task: to put on tape not just her own story but the story of the young blind girl, her cousin's granddaughter, who turned up mysteriously at her party all those years ago. This is a story of generations, of the relationships within a family - and of what goes to make a child. Called "the best English novelist of his generation" by Nick Hornby, Jonathan Coe extends his range in this magnificent account of a Shropshire family in the last half of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54879 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
Potent and melancholy, like a short, sad song (The Guardian )

A hauntingly melancholy tale of love and loss...a moving exploration of the inheritance of unhappiness, and the devestating consequences it can have for future generations (Daily Mail )

A male writer who can enter such traditionally female territory and aquit himself with such aplomb (The Sunday Telegraph )

About the Author
Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. He has published seven novels, all of which are available in Penguin: The Accidental Woman, A Touch of Love, The Dwarves of Death, What a Carve Up!, which won the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, The House of Sleep, which won the 1998 Prix Medicis Etranger, The Rotter's Club, winner of the Everyman Wodehouse Prize and The Closed Circle. He has also published a biography of the novelist B.S. Johnson, which won the Orwell prize in 2005. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

A fantastic story and beautiful writing
I was interested to read the review already given here , as my experience of reading this book was totally different.

It's odd to hear someone complain about the print size - true, it is a little bigger than that used in most books I have read, but it's not that big. And the truth is, I got so absorbed in the story that after a few pages I really didn't notice it.

Virtually the whole narrative is made up of a series of photographs, each one described in detail by the narrator, Rosamond. Her death at the beginning of the novel instigates several questions - her niece is instructed to contact Imogen, a little girl who Rosamond lost touch with years before. Over the course of the book, Rosamond's story starts to emerge from the series of photographs, and you start to learn more about the things that happened to her and who Imogen is. This sounds like a tricksy device but in fact it works really well - you are only given pieces at a time, which makes the whole thing even more compelling.

I absolutely loved this book - it's so beautifully written, with characters that you really care about. It's a bit shorter than some of Jonathan Coe's other books, but the brevity goes really well with how elegant and sophisticated it is. It's definitely worth reading - I'd recommend it to anybody thinking about buying it .

development of an accomplished novelist
This is a beautifully crafted work, a pleasurable journey through the generations put together by a seriously gifted writer. JC's characters (as always) conjure empathy and pathos. I enjoyed this as much as any of JC's novels, though for different reasons. There is so much to make the reader smile, and it is (on this occasion) no loss to forgo the "laugh out loud" moments which punctuate earlier works. Clever and original, without a hint of intellectual ruthlessness or arrogance, this novel will take its place in the author's growing portfolio as a significant accomplishment leaving readers (like myself) ready for the next offering but without any pre-ordained ideas as to what might come in the future. Other than the certainty it will be pure quality.

Highly disappointing
More than two thirds into the story,Rosamond the woman who tells the story in the book begins a chapter with the following words:
"Thank goodness! I am growing tired of this story, and you must be exhausted,listening to me chatter on for hours on end. (....) It will be over now,all over , very soon.A relief all round ,I am sure."
There is not much to add really , this is exactly how I felt after 200 pages - rarely have I witnesed a more contrived story and as little character development as in this book .
As a great admirer of Coe's previous work I can only advise readers to stay away from this one and read any other of his books which are all great (especially House of sleep,The rotter's club and What a carve up).